1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method for readily identifying image data suitable for super-resolution processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods for super-resolution processing are known, in which a high-resolution image is generated from a plurality of images that may contain uncontrolled positional shifts caused by, for example, movement of a hand holding a camera.
However, in a case where still images are extracted from moving images, when the foregoing super-resolution processing is performed, super-resolution processing may not be correctly performed due to, for example, changes between scenes or changes caused by automatic exposure (AE) and automatic white balance (AWB) of a camera capturing images.
For example, in a scene where the level of detected value of light metering changes, changes occur in intense white areas and intense black areas in a subject. In such areas, shifts from a reference image are large. Thus, in super-resolution processing, since the number of frames that are used for interpolation decreases, the resolution may not be sufficiently improved. In particular, intense white areas tend to occur in the face part, and the resolution may not be sufficiently improved in a part corresponding to a main subject. In a scene where the level of detected white balance changes, the hue changes even in one subject. In such areas, shifts from a reference image are large. Thus, in super-resolution processing, since the number of frames that are used for interpolation decreases, the color resolution, the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, and the like may not be sufficiently improved.
Accordingly, the user needs to play back moving images and find the image of a scene suitable for super-resolution processing, where the level of detected value of light metering and the level of detected white balance are stable, out of the moving images to sufficiently achieve the effect of super-resolution processing. However, this is a cumbersome and time-consuming operation for the user.